Vehicular signal



June 8, 1937 w. Y. BROWN VEHICULAR SIGNAL Filed June 10, 1956 lvVVILLmlvlY. BROWN w65@ @www Patented June 8, 1937 VEHICULAR SIGNALwilliam Y. Brown, one-third to Mountain, N.

Charlotte, N. C., assig'nor of William C. Honeycutt, Black C., andone-third to Robert H.

Garland, Charlotte, N. C.

Application June 10,

3 Claims.

This invention relates to a trame signal carried by vehicles such asautomobiles, trucks and the like, and more especially to a signalcomprising one or more lights which are revolved by by the forward speedwell known fact that mounted for rotation and the air currents producedof the vehicle. It is a a moving signal will attract more attention thanthe stationary signals and therefore, if a suitable device can bedesigned whereby the speed of a revolving signal will indicate thecorresponding speed of the automobile or vehicle upon which it ismounted a greater protection can be provided for the vehicle upon whichit approaching drivers.

is installed as well as for It is therefore, an object of this inventionto provide a revolving rotated by the air signal which is revolved orcurrents produced by the forward speed of the vehicle, said signalhaving an illuminating means visible both from the front and the rear ofthe vehicle for giving notice to the drivers meeting, following orovertaking the vehicle.

It is a further object of this invention to 25 Provide a rotating signalof the class described being adjustably mounted on the side of a vehicleso that the position of the same may be varied with respect to the bodyof the vehicle to afford the desired 30 rear of the vehicle so view fromthe front and equipped It is stm a further object of this invention toprovide an air-propelled signal of the class described, said signalhaving means for propelling the same comprising suitable rotating hub,

fanblades connected to a and a lighting means seequipped.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objectswill appear as the description proceeds.

when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:-

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a vehicle comprising a tractor and tionapplied thereto;

a trailer with the inven- Figure 2 is a sectional elevation taken alongline 2-2 in Figure 1; Figure 3 is a vertical line 3--3 in Figure 2;

sectional view taken along Figure 4 is an enlarged sectional view of theupper right-hand porti on of Figure 3.

Referring more specifically to the drawing, the

numeral i denotes a 55 drawn by tractor Il.

suitable trailer which is In a vehicle of this type,

1938, Serial No. 84,529

it has been found from experience that the most appropriate place forpositioning a signal on the vehicle is approximately midway between thefront and rear extremities of the vehicle in order that the signal maybe visible at all times. For this reason, a suitable bracket i2 issecured to the side of trailer body i0.- approximately midway of thecombined length of the trailer l0 and tractor Il. This bracket issecured to the body by any suitable means such as bolts I3 and hasadjustably secured thereto another bracket Il by any suitable means suchas bolt I5. By loosening bolt I5, the bracket Il may be rotated to anydesired position where the light will be visible to drivers of othervehicles both in front and rear of the vehicle so equipped.

Threadably secured in the free end of bracket I4 is a hollow pipe I1which pipeis lockedin position in the end of bracket I4 by means of alock nut i8 which is also threadably mounted on pipe I1. Mounted on pipei1 and positioned between this pipe and the casing or hub 20 are ballbearings 2i and 22, which bearings allow the hub 20 to rotate around thepipe l1. It will be noted that lock nut i8 has a flange or sleeve lilawhich extends over the left-hand portion of hub 20 (Fig. 3), in order toprevent sand, grit, water and the like from entering the interior ofsaid hub.

Hub 20 has projecting from opposed sides thereof propeller blades 25 and26. Also projecting from opposed sides of the hub and at approximatelyright angles to the propeller blades 25 and 26 are hollow pipes 21 and28, each of said pipes having secured on its extremity a casing 29.Since both of these casings and the contents therein are identical onlyone will be described and like reference characters will be given tolike parts in the other casing.

Casing 29 has reflectors 30 and 3l mounted in the ends thereof which areheld in position by glass shields or windows 32 and 33 respectively,which shields prevent foreign objects from entering into the inside ofthe casing and also allow the light rays to pass therethrough and form asignal.

It is obvious that these signals may be of any desired color, however,it is preferable that the rear signal 32 be red and the front signal 33be any suitable color such as green. The members 32 and 33 are held inposition by expansion rings 34 which fit into suitable grooves in theends of casings 29 and have portions thereof for projecting downwardlyover the periphery of members 32 and 33 to hold the same in position.

- Disposed between reflectors 3U and 3| is a tube 36 which is adapted toaccommodate in the ends thereof suitable light bulbs I1 and 38. Theselight bulbs are supplied with current through 5 branch wires 48 and 4i,said wires being joined together into one common wire 42. The ends ofwires 40 and 4| are normally held in contact with the ends of bulbs I1and 38 by any suitable means such as compression springs 45, (Figures 3and 4) Wire 42 leads downwardly through the interior of pipe 28 and isconnected as at 48 to conductive bar 41, said bar being secured to anon-conductive disk 48 which, in turn, is secured in the end of casing20 by any suitable means-such as expansion ring 49. The current issupplied to bar 41 through a brush 50, which is siidably mounted in ablock of insulation 5l. The block of insulation is secured in a bore inpipe I1 and has a cavity in the central portion thereof in which acompression spring 53 is adapted to ilt and normally press brush 50against the conductive bar 41. Leading from the brush 50 is a wire 54which has its other end connected to a terminal 55 of a suitable sourceof energy suahas a storage bat- .25 tery 5s which battery is supportedby the lower =f portion of the trailer body l0.

The lighting element which is secured on the extremity of pipe 21 isidentical in all respects to the lighting element on the extremity ofpipe 28 and therefore, another description is not deemed necessary sincelike reference characters will apply to like parts.

In order to obtain a perfect ground tor these lights a suitable tube 51has been inserted in the casing 20 and within this tube a brush 58 isslidably mounted. A spring 59 normally forces the brush 58 into contactwith a brass ring 50 which n ring is secured around pipe I1. In order tonormally hold spring 58 in position a cap 6| is secured in the upper endof pipe 51.

It is therefore seen that if the parts 21, 28, and 29 are not sufllcientto form a perfect ground, that the connection of these parts with thehollow pipe I1 and hence to the body of the vehicle, will make theground connection perfectly completed, and therefore, there will be noickering of the lights due to an improper ground.

It is also evident that the speed of this4 fan can be increased ordecreased by bending the blades 25 and. 26 and therefore varying theangularity of the same. When the angularity has been properly adjustedit has been found in actual. operation that the cruising speed of theautomobile or vehicle will rotate the lights at the proper speed so asto cause the lights which are mounted in casing 29 to appear as a solidcircle or band.

It has also been found that as the speed of the car decreases. theintensity oi' this band is decreased a corresponding amount and hencenotice is given to persons in front of and in the rear of the vehicle asto the approximate speed of the vehicle. When'the vehicle is beingslowed down -an approaching driver can easily tell because the intensityof the band produced by the rotating lights will be correspondinglydecreased and the separate identity of each light can be ascertainedeven though the lights are rotating slowly.

In the drawing and specification there has been set forth a preferredembodiment of the invention, and although speciilc terms are used, theyare used in a generic and descriptive sense only, and not for purposesof limitation, the scope of the invention being set forth in theappended claims.

.on the outer ends thereof visible from both the front and rear of thevehicle carrying the same,

and said' fan blades being radially and angularly disposed so as toimpart the desired speed of rotation to the hub member.

2. A rotary signal for a vehicle, means for mounting the same forrotation in the air stream created by movement oi the vehicle, saidsignal comprising a rotary hub member and at least one arm projectinglaterally from said hub member, a tubular member disposed on the outerend of said arm and having a source of light disposed in each end of thetubular member, and fan blades mounted on the hub member for engagingthe air through which the body of the vehicle is moved to impartrotationto the signal at a speed in proportion to the speed of thevehicle carrying the signal. v

3. A rotary trailic signal having means for securing the same to theside of a vehicle, said signal comprising a hub member, arms carried bysaid hub member, illuminated means disposed on the. outer ends of saidarms on both the front and rear surfaces of said arms, and an airscrewalso disposed on said hub member for imparting rotation to the hubmember and theilluminated means when the vehicle is in motion.

WILLIAM Y. BROWN.

